Αργυρόπουλος
1
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND BYZANTIUM: THE CAREER OF THE GREEK HUMANIST-PROFESSOR JOHN ARGYROPOULOS IN FLORENCE AND ROME ( 1 4 1 5 -1 4 8 7) by PROFESSOR DENO GEANAKOPLOS Our knowledge of the activities of the Byzantine scholar-emigres to the West in the period of the Italian Renaissance has in recent years been increasing. Nevertheless, the careers of many, including even some of the most important, are still insufficiently known. More precisely, their contribution to the Renaissance has not yet adequately been integrated into the mainstream of the development of Italian humanism. Such is the case with the Byzantine John Argyropoulos. Although his name is as well known as that of the most famous of the Byzantine humanist-emigres — Bessarion, Chalcondyles, Chrysoloras, and Musurus — no biography has been written on him since the single, pioneering but now in some ways outdated work of Cammelli, nor has anyone as yet attempted to delineate his career in English.* Nonetheless, his career is of genuine significance not only because his teaching of Greek brought a special eclat to Medici Florence but, more important, because it was primarily his influence on Florentine humanism that served to transform its original emphasis on rhetoric to a broader interest in metaphysical philosophy. The career of Argyropoulos may be divided into three broad phases: the first (obscure because of the extreme poverty of the sources) in Constantinople, where he taught in the decade or more prior to its fall to the Turks in 1453. The second period, longest by far and most meaningful for the Italian Renaissance, comprises that of his tenure of instruction in Florence when that city was at the height of its fame as a humanistic center. And third, the brief period of his sojourn in Rome, where for some years he taught at its University and where in 1487 he died. The precise place of Argyropoulos' birth is unknown, though it was probably Constantinople, since the few remaining sources on this initial period mention only that city. Of his family, about all we know is that he came from a distinguished Byzantine lineage. That very early he was possessed of an unusual ardor for study, with a particular bent toward philosophy, is evident from his own remarks in a letter he later exchanged with the celebrated Italian humanist Francesco Filelfo. * On the career of Argyropoulos see especially the book of G. Cammelli, I Dotti Bizantini e le origini dell'umanesimo: Giovanni Argiropulo (Florence, 1941) (with bibliography); more recently E. Garin, "Donato Acciaiuoli, Citizen of Florence," in his Portraits from the Quattrocento, transl. V. and A. Velen (New York, 1972), pp. 69-81; J. Seigel, " The Teaching of Argyropoulos and the Rhetoric of the First Humanist," Action and Conviction in Early Modern Europe (Princeton, 1969), pp. 237-60; and on the Byzantine emigre-scholars in general, D. Geanakoplos, Byzantium and the Renaissance (Hamden, 1972) (reprint of Greek Scholars in Venice: Studies in the Dis- semination of Greek Learning from Byzantium to Western Europe (Cambridge, Mass., 1962).
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Argyropoulos
Transcript of Αργυρόπουλος
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND BYZANTIUM:
THE CAREER OF THE GREEK
HUMANIST-PROFESSOR JOHN ARGYROPOULOS
IN FLORENCE AND ROME ( 1 4 1 5 -1 487) by
PROFESSOR DENO GEANAKOPLOS
Our knowledge of the activities of the Byzantine scholar-emigres to the West in the period of the Italian Renaissance has in recent years been increasing. Nevertheless, the careers of many, including even some of the most important, are still insufficiently known. More precisely, their contribution to the Renaissance has not yet adequately been integrated into the mainstream of the development of Italian humanism. Such is the case with the Byzantine John Argyropoulos. Although his name is as well known as that of the most famous of the Byzantine humanist-emigres — Bessarion, Chalcondyles, Chrysoloras, and Musurus — no biography has been written on him since the single, pioneering but now in some ways outdated work of Cammelli, nor has anyone as yet attempted to delineate his career in English.* Nonetheless, his career is of genuine significance not only because his teaching of Greek brought a special eclat to Medici Florence but, more important, because it was primarily his influence on Florentine humanism that served to transform its original emphasis on rhetoric to a broader interest in metaphysical philosophy.
The career of Argyropoulos may be divided into three broad phases: the first (obscure because of the extreme poverty of the sources) in Constantinople, where he taught in the decade or more prior to its fall to the Turks in 1453. The second period, longest by far and most meaningful for the Italian Renaissance, comprises that of his tenure of instruction in Florence when that city was at the height of its fame as a humanistic center. And third, the brief period of his sojourn in Rome, where for some years he taught at its University and where in 1487 he died.
The precise place of Argyropoulos' birth is unknown, though it was probably Constantinople, since the few remaining sources on this initial period mention only that city. Of his family, about all we know is that he came from a distinguished Byzantine lineage. That very early he was possessed of an unusual ardor for study, with a particular bent toward philosophy, is evident from his own remarks in a letter he later exchanged with the celebrated Italian humanist Francesco Filelfo.
* On the career of Argyropoulos see especially the book of G. Cammelli, I Dotti Bizantini e le origini dell'umanesimo: Giovanni Argiropulo (Florence, 1941) (with bibliography); more recently E. Garin, "Donato Acciaiuoli, Citizen of Florence," in his Portraits from the Quattrocento, transl. V. and A. Velen (New York, 1972), pp. 69-81; J. Seigel, " The Teaching of Argyropoulos and the Rhetoric of the First Humanist," Action and Conviction in Early Modern Europe (Princeton, 1969), pp. 237-60; and on the Byzantine emigre-scholars in general, D. Geanakoplos, Byzantium and the Renaissance (Hamden, 1972) (reprint of Greek Scholars in Venice: Studies in the Dis-semination of Greek Learning from Byzantium to Western Europe (Cambridge, Mass., 1962).
